Chapter 23

The Transformation of the World Economy
  • discussion of Barbie and Ken dolls showed the power of global commerce
    • showed a reaction to values portrayed by Barbie and Ken elsewhere in the world
    • Iran created new dolls, Sara and Dara, that displayed Iranian Muslim values and practices
    • Sara and Dara, Barbie and Ken dolls were all made in China
  • a dense web of political relationships, economic transactions, and cultural influences increasingly bound world together
    • the 1990s: the process of accelerating engagement known as globalization
    • globalization had long history upon which 20th-century globalization was built
    • the pace of globalization increased rapidly after WWII
  • global economic connections contracted during the time between world wars
  • capitalist winners of WWII determined not to repeat Great Depressions
    • 1944: Bretton Woods agreements
    • technology helped accelerate economic globalization
  • the 1970s: capitalist countries dropped controls on economic activity and increasingly viewed as a single market
    • known as neoliberalism
    • favored reduction of tariffs, a free global movement of capital, mobile workforce, privatization of state enterprises, less government economic regulation, tax, and spending cuts
    • neo-liberalism imposed on poor countries to give them loans
    • breakdown of communist state-controlled economies furthered the process
  • global economic transactions sped up after WWII
  • world trade increased
    • $57 billion in 1947
    • over $16 trillion in 2009
  • companies market goods worldwide
  • money became highly mobile
    • foreign direct investment, especially after 1960
    • short-term investment in foreign currencies or stock
    • international credit cards, allowing easy transfers of money to other countries
      • 2012 MasterCard accepted at 33 million businesses in 220 countries or territories
  • central to process are transnational corporations (TNCs) which are huge global businesses that operate in many countries simultaneously
    • some TNCs have greater economic clout than some countries
    • 2000: 51 world's 100 large economic units were TNCs, not countries
  • many laborers and professionals moved all over the world from poor to rich countries
    • millions sought refuge in the west from oppression or civil war
    • others migrate from developing in industrialized countries known as labor migrants
    • 1971-2010: 20 million to the U.S.
  • economic globalization helped generate greatest economic growth spurt in world history; immense creation of wealth
    • life expectancies increased nearly everywhere
    • infant mortality declined
    • literacy rates increased
    • poverty declined
  • new world economy experienced some crisis, recently in 2008
  • massive chasm developed between rich industrialized countries and everyone else
    • the ratio between income of top and bottom 20% of the world's population was 3:1 in 1820
      • 86:1 in 1991
    • disparity shaped almost everyone's life chances
  • disparities became a source of conflict between richer Global North than developing Global South
    • tension over trade rules and terms of foreign aid
    • growing disparities between developing countries make collective action more difficult
  • growing economic inequality with individual states, both rich and poor
    • the U.S. lost millions of manufacturing jobs, forcing factory workers into lower-paying jobs, while other prospered in high-tech industries
    • northern Mexico became much more prosperous than southern Mexico
    • China, urban income by 2,000 was three times that of rural income
  • the growing popular movement against globalization emerged in the 1990s
    • involves rich and poor
    • argued free-trade, market-driven corporate globalization lowered labor standards, encouraged ecological destruction, ignored human rights and cultures, and enhanced global inequality
    • 1999: attracted global attention with a massive protest at the World Trade Organization in Seattle
    • 2001: alternative globalization activists created the World Social Forum to coordinate strategy and share experiences
  • opposition to corporate free-trade globalization
    • opposition to growing the U.S. power and influence
    • seen as "American power"
    • Americans deny America is an empire
    • described as "informal empire" like European in China and the middle east in the 19th century
  • Soviet collapse and thaw of the Cold War left the U.S. without equivalent power in opposition
    • the U.S. able to act unilaterally against Afghanistan and Iraq after Islamic militants attacked on Sept. 11, 2001
    • the U.S. is in a new global struggle, contain or eliminate Islamic "terrorism"
  • the U.S. faced international economic competition since the 1980s
    • the U.S. shared overall world production
      • 50% in 1945
      • 20% in the 1980s
    • revealed the U.S. trade balance
      • the U.S. imports exceed exports
  • the armed struggle against the U.S. intervention in Vietnam, Cuba, Iraq
    • during the cold war, some states turned toward USSR to limit the U.S. influence
    • 1967: France withdrew from NATO
  • 2000: widespread opposition to the U.S. international policies
  • global exercise of American power has caused controversy with the U.S.
    • Vietnam War split country worse than anything since the Civil War
    • the U.S. invasion of Iraq provoked similar protests and controversies
The Globalization of Liberation: Focus on Feminism
  • 20th century: liberation spread
    • the 1960s: protests movements around the world suggests a new global culture of liberation
      • the U.S.: civil rights, youthful counterculture, antiwar protests
      • Europe: unresponsive bureaucracy, consumerism, middle-class values
      • communist world: give a socialism a human face in Czechoslovakia
      • China: Cultural Revolution
  • development of the idea of the third world
    • cultural renewal
    • third world ideology exemplified by Che Guevara
      • an effort to replicate liberation of the Cuban revolution through Guerrilla Welfare in Africa and Latin America
  • among all liberation movements, feminism most profound potential for change
    • rethinking of basic relationships between men and women
    • began in the west in the 19th century with suffrage
  • the 1960s: organized feminism revived in the west with new agenda
    • against a historic understanding of women as deviant
    • demanded the right of women to control own bodies
    • agenda of equal rights in employment and education
  • "women's liberation": broad attack on patriarchy as domination
    • consciousness rising: becoming aware of the oppression
    • open discussion of sexuality issues
    • black women emphasized solidarity with black men, not separation
  • women welcome in communist and revolutionary movements but sidelined after movements' success
  • the 1970s: many African feminists thought Western feminists too individualistic and too focused on sex
    • resented Western feminists' interest in cultural matters like female circumcision and polygamy
    • African governments and African men identified feminism with colonialism
  • not all movements dealt explicitly with gender
    • Kenya: women's group supported individual women and communities
    • Morocco: feminist movement targeted laws defining women as minors
      • 2004: obtained legal equality
    • Chile: women's movement during Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship crossed class and party lines, helped groups survive economically, exposed human rights abuses
  • the 20th century: "women question" became a global issue
    • patriarchy lost some legitimacy
    • UN declared 1975 as International Women's Year
    • UN declared 1975-1985 as Decade for Women
    • UN sponsored series of World Conferences on Women
    • 2006: 183 nations had ratified UN Convention to Eliminate Discrimination against Women
  • sharp divisions within global feminism
    • who has the right to speak for women
    • the conflict between developed and developing nations' interests
    • third world groups often disagree
  • the global backlash to feminism
    • some argued agenda undermined family life and relations between men and women
    • fueled religious revivalism in the Muslim world
    • some took exception to emphasis on reproductive rights
Religion and Global Modernity
  • modernity presented a challenge to the world's religion
    • "advanced" thinkers of the 18th and 19th centuries believed supernatural religion headed for extinction
    • a sharp decline in religious belief and practice in some places
    • the spread of scientific culture convinced small minorities that only realities worth considering were those that could be measured scientifically
  • prominent trends of the last century have been further spread of major world religions, a resurgence in new forms, and attacks on elements of secular and global modernity
    • Buddhist ideas and practices well received in the west
    • Christianity spread even further
      • majority of Christians no longer in Europe and in the U.S.
    • Islam spread
    • religious pluralism on a level never seen before
  • "fundamentalism" major reaction against modernization and globalization
    • militant piety: defensive and exclusive
    • developed in every major religious tradition
  • feature of the modern world appear threatening to the established region
    • upset customary class, family, and gender relationships
    • nation-states undermined by the global economy and foreign culture
    • disruption often caused by foreigners from the west
  • fundamentalists responded with a selective rejection
    • actively use modern communication technology
  • fundamentalists come from the U.S. religious conservatives in the early 20th century
    • called for a return to fundamentals of Christianity
    • many saw the U.S. on edge of a moral abyss
    • the 1970s: entered the political arena as a religious right
  • the 1980s: Hindutva - Hindu nationalism - developed in India
    • formed political party
      • Bharatiya Janata Party
    • opposed state efforts to cater to Muslims, Sikhs, and lower castes
    • BJP promoted distinct Hindu identity in education, culture, and religion
  • Islamic fundamentalism is most prominent of the late 20th century
    • earlier renewal movements focused on internal problems
    • the 20th century: respond to external pressures
  • the 1970s: great disappointments in the Muslim world
    • new states pursued western and secular policies
    • new policies were unsuccessful
    • foreign intrusion continued
  • the growing attraction of Islamic alternative to western models
    • foundations laid early
      • Mawlana Mawdudi, Sayyid Qutb
    • an effort to return to true Islam labeled as "jihad"
  • 1928: Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood founded, the earliest mass movement to resist western influence
    • gained large following
    • still a major presence in Egypt
  • the 1970s: fundamentalist thought in Islamic World
    • increase in religious observance
    • many women voluntarily adopted modest dress and veils
    • governments used Islamic rhetoric and practice as an anchor
    • Islamic organizations formed to provide social services
    • Islamic activists became leaders in unions and professional organizations
    • entry into politics
  • some wanted overthrowing of compromised regimes: implemented radical Islamization
    • 1979: Islamic movement took power in Iran
    • 1996: Afghanistan
    • 2000: Northern Nigeria
    • Pakistan and Sudan: military governments introduced elements of sharia law
    • 1981: Egyptian Islamic Jihad assassinated Anwar Sadar
  • attacked hostile foreign powers
    • Hamas and Hezbollah targeted Israel
    • 1979: response to Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
    • 1998: al-Qaeda issued fatwa declaring war against America
    • attacked western interest in East Africa, Indonesia, Great Britain, Spain, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen
  • violent struggle in the Islamic World
    • fundamentalists interpreted the Quran is highly literal and dogmatic ways
    • legalistic in regulation of daily life
    • opposed to "innovation" in religious practice
    • defined those who disagreed with them as "non-Muslims"
    • draw to violent jihad as a legitimate part of life
    • skeptical of Sufism
    • known as Salafism, a form of fundamentalist Islam spread with the financial backing of Saudia Arabia
  • militancy isn't only religious response to modernity
  • debated within the Islamic World
    • many acted peacefully within political structures
    • Muslim intellectuals called for dialogue between civilizations
    • others argued that traditions can change in face of modern realities
    • Turkey: Fethullah Gulen inspired reformist movement
    • 2004-2005: "Amman Message" called for Islamic unity
  • other religious traditions responded to global modernity
    • Christian groups concerned with ethical issues of economic globalization
    • liberation theology advocated Christian action in areas of social justice, poverty, human rights
    • a growing movement of "socially engaged Buddhism" in Asia
  • first week of February 2011: designated by UN as World Interfaith Harmony Week
Experiencing the Anthropocene Era: Environment and Environmentalism
  • three factors magnified human impact
    • the 20th century: world population quadrupled
    • the massive use of fossil fuels
      • coal in the 19th century
      • oil in the 20th century
    • the uneven spread of all three over the world
      • economic growth came to appear possible and desirable almost everywhere
  • human environment disruptions now global proportions
    • doubling cropland and corresponding contraction of forests and grasslands
    • numerous extinctions of plant and animal species
    • air pollution in major cities and rivers
    • chlorofluorocarbons thinned the ozone layers
  • 2000: scientific consensus on the occurrence of global warming as a result of burning fossil fuels and loss of trees
  • the 19th century: environmentalism began as a response to the Industrial Revolution
  • the second half of the 20th century: became a global phenomenon
    • 1962: began in the west with Rachel Carson's Silent Spring
    • the impetus for action came from grassroots and citizen protest
    • Germany: environmentalists entered politics as Green Party
  • the 1970s-1980s: environmentalism took root in developing countries
    • locally based, involving poorer people
    • concerned with food security, health, and survival
    • environmentalists sought basic changes in a political and social structure
      • Philippine activism against foreign mining companies
  • end of the 20th century: environmentalism became a matter of global concern
    • legislation to control pollution in many countries
    • encouragement for business to become "green"
    • research on alternative energy sources
    • conferences on global warming
    • international agreements on several issues
  • conflicts between the Global North and Global South
    • northern efforts to control pollution and global warming could limit South's industrial development
    • developing countries see developed ones as unwilling to give up their extravagance and help
  • global environmentalism symbolizes focus on the plight of humankind
    • a challenge to modernity, especially commitment to growth
    • the growing importance of ideas of sustainability and restraint

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